Okla-homey
1/22/2008, 08:09 AM
January 22, 1927: John McCausland dies
81 years ago today, former Confederate Brigadier General John A. McCausland dies in Mason, West Virginia. He lived for over 50 years after the war and remained an unreconstructed rebel at the time of his death.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/41073/2002664805429374948_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002664805429374948)
"Tiger John" McCausland
Nicknamed "Tiger John," McCausland was born to Irish immigrants in St. Louis and moved to Virginia as an adolescent. He graduated with honors in the class of 1858 at the Virginia Military Institute, and subsequently acted as assistant professor of mathematics in that institution until 1861. In 1859 he was present with a group of VMI cadets at the execution of John Brown at Charles Town.
http://aycu35.webshots.com/image/41634/2002651989021252355_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002651989021252355)
John Brown. A about a year before the Civil War began, Brown led a failed slave uprising and was executed for his crime of assaulting the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
When the war began, McCausland organized an regiment and formed the 36th Virginia from the western part of the state. For this act, he was appointed its colonel. After a foray to western Tennessee and the Confederate military disaster at Ft Donelson in February 1862, he and his command broke through the US lines and returned to western Virginia.
McCausland spent most of the rest of the war in the mountainous region of western Virginia. On May 9, 1864, McCausland distinguished himself at the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain. For the victory, he was promoted to brigadier general.
Two bold actions defined McCausland's career. First, in June 1864, he drove a larger Union force commanded by US Major General David Hunter from Lynchburg, Virginia, earning him the undying gratitude of the city.
http://aycu08.webshots.com/image/40447/2003595377366694408_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003595377366694408)
MG David Hunter. A pre-war Army officer and committed abolitionist before the war, he looked on his wartime mission in terms similar to the executed John Brown. Hunter reckoned Southerners ought to suffer for the great sin of enslaving human beings and vowed to destroy as much of their way of life as he could.
He then joined CS Major General Jubal Early's invasion of Maryland in July 1864. Early dispatched McCausland and his cavalry brigade to Hagerstown to exact a $200,000 ransom from city officials. McCausland rode into Hagerstown and delivered his hand-written note to authorities. Unfortunately, McCausland (or his clerk, we're not sure) accidentally omitted a zero on that note--only $20,000 was secured.
http://aycu16.webshots.com/image/40255/2002078826528684011_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002078826528684011)
CS MG Jubal Early. Early's most important service was the Valley Campaigns of 1864, when he commanded the Confederacy's last invasions of the North. He failed to capture DC, but as Early withdrew, he said to one of his officers, "Major, we haven't taken Washington, but we scared Abe Lincoln like hell."
McCausland then moved on to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and pulled his second notorious feat--in retaliation for the destruction of private property by US MG Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley, including the burning of McCausland's alma mater , McCausland tried to extort more than $500,000 from Chambersburg, PA. When the city did not come up with the cash, McCausland ordered its torching and burned it to the ground.
http://aycu28.webshots.com/image/43027/2002678258589230662_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002678258589230662)
Remains of the Chambersburg Court House
After the failure of Early's campaign, McCausland rejoined the remaining Confederate force in its epic defense of the Confederate capitol at the Siege of Petersburg, the Battle of Five Forks, and the Appomattox Campaign. He escaped with his cavalry from Appomattox Court House before Robert E. Lee's surrender, but disbanded his unit soon after. He was paroled in Charleston, West Virginia, on May 22, 1865 after many Rebels had already laid down their arms.
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/42064/2002642224909778680_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002642224909778680)
Post-war photo of John McCausland
After the war, McCausland, facing a federal indictment for the burning of Chambersburg, fled to Canada, Britain, and then Mexico. He returned to the U.S. in 1868 after he was informed by the US attorneys office he would not be prosecuted for his alleged war crimes. He eventually recieved a full pardon by his old nemesis, now president, U.S. Grant.
He acquired a tract of 6,000 acres in Mason County, West Virginia, where he lived as a farmer for more than 60 years. On this day in 1927, McCausland died at his farm, "McCausland", in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, the last former Confederate general to die*. He is buried in Henderson, West Virginia.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/39582/2002684300560965778_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002684300560965778)
McCausland's farmhouse
*Felix Huston Robertson is often cited as the longest surviving general, dying thriteen months after McCausland on April 20, 1928, but Robertson's nomination for brigadier general was rejected by the Confederate Senate in February 1865.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/39393/2002645751698594842_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002645751698594842)
81 years ago today, former Confederate Brigadier General John A. McCausland dies in Mason, West Virginia. He lived for over 50 years after the war and remained an unreconstructed rebel at the time of his death.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/41073/2002664805429374948_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002664805429374948)
"Tiger John" McCausland
Nicknamed "Tiger John," McCausland was born to Irish immigrants in St. Louis and moved to Virginia as an adolescent. He graduated with honors in the class of 1858 at the Virginia Military Institute, and subsequently acted as assistant professor of mathematics in that institution until 1861. In 1859 he was present with a group of VMI cadets at the execution of John Brown at Charles Town.
http://aycu35.webshots.com/image/41634/2002651989021252355_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002651989021252355)
John Brown. A about a year before the Civil War began, Brown led a failed slave uprising and was executed for his crime of assaulting the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
When the war began, McCausland organized an regiment and formed the 36th Virginia from the western part of the state. For this act, he was appointed its colonel. After a foray to western Tennessee and the Confederate military disaster at Ft Donelson in February 1862, he and his command broke through the US lines and returned to western Virginia.
McCausland spent most of the rest of the war in the mountainous region of western Virginia. On May 9, 1864, McCausland distinguished himself at the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain. For the victory, he was promoted to brigadier general.
Two bold actions defined McCausland's career. First, in June 1864, he drove a larger Union force commanded by US Major General David Hunter from Lynchburg, Virginia, earning him the undying gratitude of the city.
http://aycu08.webshots.com/image/40447/2003595377366694408_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003595377366694408)
MG David Hunter. A pre-war Army officer and committed abolitionist before the war, he looked on his wartime mission in terms similar to the executed John Brown. Hunter reckoned Southerners ought to suffer for the great sin of enslaving human beings and vowed to destroy as much of their way of life as he could.
He then joined CS Major General Jubal Early's invasion of Maryland in July 1864. Early dispatched McCausland and his cavalry brigade to Hagerstown to exact a $200,000 ransom from city officials. McCausland rode into Hagerstown and delivered his hand-written note to authorities. Unfortunately, McCausland (or his clerk, we're not sure) accidentally omitted a zero on that note--only $20,000 was secured.
http://aycu16.webshots.com/image/40255/2002078826528684011_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002078826528684011)
CS MG Jubal Early. Early's most important service was the Valley Campaigns of 1864, when he commanded the Confederacy's last invasions of the North. He failed to capture DC, but as Early withdrew, he said to one of his officers, "Major, we haven't taken Washington, but we scared Abe Lincoln like hell."
McCausland then moved on to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and pulled his second notorious feat--in retaliation for the destruction of private property by US MG Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley, including the burning of McCausland's alma mater , McCausland tried to extort more than $500,000 from Chambersburg, PA. When the city did not come up with the cash, McCausland ordered its torching and burned it to the ground.
http://aycu28.webshots.com/image/43027/2002678258589230662_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002678258589230662)
Remains of the Chambersburg Court House
After the failure of Early's campaign, McCausland rejoined the remaining Confederate force in its epic defense of the Confederate capitol at the Siege of Petersburg, the Battle of Five Forks, and the Appomattox Campaign. He escaped with his cavalry from Appomattox Court House before Robert E. Lee's surrender, but disbanded his unit soon after. He was paroled in Charleston, West Virginia, on May 22, 1865 after many Rebels had already laid down their arms.
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/42064/2002642224909778680_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002642224909778680)
Post-war photo of John McCausland
After the war, McCausland, facing a federal indictment for the burning of Chambersburg, fled to Canada, Britain, and then Mexico. He returned to the U.S. in 1868 after he was informed by the US attorneys office he would not be prosecuted for his alleged war crimes. He eventually recieved a full pardon by his old nemesis, now president, U.S. Grant.
He acquired a tract of 6,000 acres in Mason County, West Virginia, where he lived as a farmer for more than 60 years. On this day in 1927, McCausland died at his farm, "McCausland", in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, the last former Confederate general to die*. He is buried in Henderson, West Virginia.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/39582/2002684300560965778_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002684300560965778)
McCausland's farmhouse
*Felix Huston Robertson is often cited as the longest surviving general, dying thriteen months after McCausland on April 20, 1928, but Robertson's nomination for brigadier general was rejected by the Confederate Senate in February 1865.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/39393/2002645751698594842_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002645751698594842)